松坂と比べられる井川

ESPNより抜粋。
Alex Rodriguez made the New York Yankees forget Kei Igawa's forgettable debut.

Igawa left after five mediocre innings trailing 7-3.

Two days after Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched seven dominating innings to win his debut for the Boston Red Sox, Igawa started hearing boos after his 12th batter. He failed to string together a 1-2-3 inning and gave up seven runs, eight hits, three walks, a hit batter and two home runs, a performance that left him with a 12.60 ERA.

New York paid $26 million for Igawa's rights and signed him to a $20 million, five-year deal, just after the Red Sox bid $51 million for Matsuzaka and agreed to a $52 million, six-year contract. While Matsuzaka is viewed as an ace, Igawa is a back-end of the rotation pitcher.

"He really can't concern himself with some other team and some other pitcher," Yankees manager Joe Torre said before the game. "Hopefully, he's not doing the comparing as much as maybe people in Japan or the media."

While Dice-K throws 95 mph and has a commanding array of pitches, Igawa topped out at 91 mph and usually was around 89.

"I'd like to believe that both of them have pitched long enough to understand what they're comfortable doing," Torre said.

Hideki Matsui, the Yankees' other Japanese player, left in the fourth inning with a strained left hamstring.

Igawa made it four wipeouts in a row for the Yankees' starting rotation, with Carl Pavano, Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina also failing to win. New York's starters have allowed 22 runs -- 19 earned -- and 28 hits in 17 1/3 innings for a 9.87 ERA. If they don't improve, the Yankees could step up efforts to sign Roger Clemens or call up top prospect Phil Hughes.

---
松坂（５１＋５２）百万ドル、井川（２６＋２０）百万ドル
松坂はエース、井川はローテーション投手の尻尾
松坂９５マイル、井川９１マイル

だが、トーレ「井川は他の選手のことは全く気にしない性格」、
ヤンキースは、パバノ、ペティット、ムシーナ、井川と４人続けて、先発投手が勝てない。

井川には運がある。次の試合は大いに期待できる。

井川打たれるも、ヤンキース逆転勝ちで負けつかず

MLB HPより抜粋。
With two outs and the bases loaded, Alex Rodriguez belted a walk-off grand slam in the ninth inning on Saturday to beat the Orioles, 10-7. It was his sixth walk-off homer in his career.

Kei Igawa came away with a no-decision after giving up eight hits -- two of them homers -- and seven earned runs in five innings. He struck out two and walked three in his 97-pitch effort.

Mariano Rivera gave up one hit and struck out Freddie Bynum in a scoreless ninth to give the Yanks a chance in the bottom half against Orioles closer Chris Ray (0-1).

Steve Trachsel started for the Birds and pitched 6 2/3 innings of four-hit ball.

Johnny Damon, who hasn't played since Opening Day because of a strained right calf, pinch hit for Miguel Cairo in the eighth inning but struck out. Hideki Matsui left the game with a strained left hamstring.

---
８回表まで、３－７とリードされていたヤンキースが、８回に３点、９回にはロドリゲスの逆転満塁サヨナラホーマーで、１０－７の大逆転勝ち。

井川は５回を投げ切り、投球数は９７。内ストライクが５３と制球悪し。
被安打８、被本塁打２、与四球３、奪三振２とかなり悪いが、５回を投げきったことは評価できる。

松坂の記事を読む

ESPNより抜粋。
"You're going to have to move," a suit told the horde in front of the Red Sox dugout early Thursday afternoon.

They didn't move. They didn't speak English. It was just over an hour before Daisuke Matsuzaka's major-league debut, fans were screaming and holding signs in Japanese, and a crush of media was camped on the dirt waiting for a shot.

"Good Morning Japan" was in Kansas City following Dice-K and waiting for history. Matsuzaka tossed a ball in the outfield, and roughly 75 cameras clicked. He wiped his brow. More clicks. It was a circus fit for a $103 million man, and for one afternoon, at least, the Japanese pitcher with a rock-star following lived up to it.

He struck out 10 batters in seven innings in Boston's 4-1 win on a day at Kauffman Stadium that was a rare spectacle. The temperature hovered in the mid-30s when Matsuzaka stepped on the mound, leaned back and took a deep breath before unloading a 93-mph fastball on David DeJesus.

Most days in Kansas City, when it's 36 degrees, a pitcher can gaze at a sea of empty blue seats. On Thursday, more than 23,000 showed up, many of them in Red Sox gear.

DeJesus fouled off Matsuzaka's first pitch, and eventually lined a single to left-center. But after that, Matsuzaka was dominating. He struck out the side in the fourth inning and retired 10 straight batters at one point. He scattered six hits and gave up his only walk in the first.

His steely demeanor never changed throughout the three-hour game.

Asked if this was what fans could expect from Matsuzaka, manager Terry Francona bristled.

"I honestly don't give a [darn] what people can expect," Francona said. "I just wanted him to go out and try to be the best pitcher he can be. The expectations, from what I've heard so far, are unreachable.

"He's got this thing figured out better than anybody else. He loves to pitch, he enjoys the heck out of the game, and he's pretty damn good."

When it was over, Matsuzaka grabbed a souvenir ball from catcher Jason Varitek, then bowed to the field before heading into the clubhouse. He spoke later, through an interpreter, in front of a packed room.

He said the day felt normal to him, so he wasn't nervous.

"It's a day I've been waiting for for a very long time," Matsuzaka said. "Even given that fact, it felt strangely normal."

He threw 108 pitches, 74 of them strikes. Varitek said Matsuzaka used all of the pitches in his arsenal, which is believed to be seven.

Matsuzaka seemed to get stronger as the game went on, and was clocked at 93 mph in the seventh inning. He struck out Ryan Shealy and Ross Gload, then got John Buck to fly out to center. He was halfway to the dugout as Coco Crisp squeezed the final out in the seventh inning.

"He reminds me of Pedro [Martinez]," designated hitter David Ortiz said. "Doesn't matter what situation, with men on base or nobody on base, he has control of the situation."

Even when the situation seems out of control off the field. Everywhere Matsuzaka has gone this spring, a gaggle of cameras has followed. About 135 credentials were issued to the Japanese media for Thursday's game. One longtime Royals writer said it was the biggest media showing in Kansas City since the 1985 World Series.

The game aired live on TV in Japan at 3 a.m.

Matsuzaka seems almost embarrassed by the scene, and the fact that he's reached Michael Jordan status in his homeland.

"He handles it very well," Red Sox spokesperson John Blake said. "It's amazing to me in a lot of ways how unflappable he is with all this. But he's had to deal with it since high school."

The legend grew in 1998 when Matsuzaka threw 250 pitches in a 17-inning win in high school. Boston won a $51.1 million bidding war for Dice-K in the offseason, and his days in a Red Sox uniform have been one prolonged spectacle.

"It's very important for Japanese people that he succeeds," Scott Filipski said as he filmed Matsuzaka for Fuji TV on Thursday. "It was like that with [Hideo] Nomo too. There was all this tension. I remember when Nomo came over, I was in Japan watching the All-Star Game broadcast. The first pitch he throws is a strike and there's like a sigh of relief. Because there are tremendous expectations."

Matsuzaka wasn't thinking about the expectations late Thursday, or the scene that will surround him in Boston on Wednesday. That's when he's scheduled to make his home debut and will face Ichiro Suzuki.

That's when the circus will really start.

"He's so even keeled in his demeanor that you can't really sense [nervousness]," Varitek said. "He was very good in his bullpen today; his balance and his release were very good. And you could tell that was going to translate. It doesn't always, but in his case it did."

---
松坂にふさわしい形容詞は、dominatingとunflappable。
私も仕事でそうありたい。

ヤンキース１位、レッドソックス３位、ドジャース５位、ホワイトソックス８位、

ESPN Power Rankingより抜粋。
1. For our first Rankings, we've leaned heavily on the predicted standings from our ESPN.com contributors, who in all their wisdom picked the Yankees to win more games than any team in the majors.

2. The Yankees have played two games. Only 160 to go. If the first week mattered that much, the 3-0 Pirates would be in the top five.

But that's enough on the Bombers. They are followed closely by the AL champion Tigers, the archrival Red Sox and the crosstown Mets, who've blazed to a 3-0 start.

１位　ヤンキース　Will A-Rod stay or will he go? We say it's a certainty that his home address won't be the Bronx in 2008.
３位　レッドソックス　If Josh Beckett becomes an elite pitcher this season, the Sox will be in good shape. If he doesn't, this year could be a struggle.

２８位　デビルレイズ
２９位　ロイヤルズ
３０位　ナショナルズ

---
ロイヤルズは２番目に弱いチーム。少なくとも中日よりは弱いと思う。

松井、負傷で途中退場

MLB HPより抜粋。
Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui left Saturday's game against the Baltimore Orioles with a strained left hamstring.

Matsui started in left field for New York and suffered the injury during his lone at-bat of the contest, grounding out to catcher Alberto Castillo in the second inning.

Miguel Cairo replaced Matsui as a pinch-hitter in the fourth inning and took over in left field. The 32-year-old Matsui will be re-evaluated on Sunday, the Yankees announced.

---
途中退場とは、ゴジラ松井にはふさわしくない。

岩村打率.６３６で、全選手中1位

MLB HPより抜粋。

１位　A Iwamure .636 11打数7安打、6得点、
２位　M Cabrera .571 14打数8安打
３位　T Nixon .556 9-5
11位　K Matsui .462 13打数6安打、2盗塁
24位　I Suzuki .400 10打数4安打、

---
オープン戦不調の岩村が１位とは。

爪を切りすぎる

夜爪を切ると親の死ぬ目に会えない、と言われていたが、私は父と母の死に目に会えなかった。親と離れて住んでいると、死に目に会う確率は少ないような気がする。自分が死ぬ時も、子供に会っても、会わなくても関係ない。